Our Experiences From the Smartphone Show 2008

Since the Smartphone Show in London late last month, much has been reported on the goings on at the show, industry developments and news by the media. We thought we'd take this opportunity to share some of our experiences and insights from the Smartphone Show 2008.

How was the show?

The new venue (Earls Court 2) was spacious and in a good location however we found that the wifi connectivity was poor out on the show floor. We were delighted to meet some of our users face to face, as well as having the opportunity to talk to handset manufacturers and operators. There were quite a few surprises too.

  

Surprises on the show floor

#1: One visitor to our booth came with a recount of DreamSpring's history. He recalled our history with DreamConnect dating back to the Psion, commenting that it is very well known in the industry, particularly within the Psion community. It was great to hear such enthusiastic comments about the power of DreamConnect from a user's perspective.

#2: One of our regular visitors once again returned to visit us at this year's show. We recalled that at a previous show he had asked about DreamConnect 2. He mentioned he's been keeping track of our development and was happy to hear that DreamConnect is finally coming to S60, and was impressed by the demo given on the E71. It was great to see that rather than switching phones or purchasing another contact manager, this user has been patiently waiting for DreamConnect to come to S60. Not long to go now!

#3: Of course we were excited to check out the new 5800, the first S60 touch device to be released. Since our products focus on touch, we were happy to see it well implemented on the 5800, and pleased with what an engaging device it is. The funny thing is, when we wondered why the 5800's version of contacts was the same as the old S60 contacts, rather than the much better version found on the E71, we were surprised to find the Nokia engineer unaware of the E71's software. It seems that Nokia's S60 operation is so big and diverse that their teams often don't even have the time to look at each other's product!

Posted November 20, 2008